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Latest News Links Olympic - Skud-18, Sonar and 2.4mR final day . . . Volvo - Sanya in fight-back after shocking 24 hours . . . Olympic - GBR Olympic 470 crew pull out of Miami OCR . . . Olympic - Team Macgregor battle into semi-final at Miami . . . Olympic - Team GBR poised for medal finish Americas Cup - AC45 to get 4 meter wingsail extension . . . News - Manager for Olympic sailing Live Site appointed . . . Olympic - Team GBR weaknesses show at Miami . . . News - Hannah Snellgrove receives Marlow Ropes Award . . . Volvo - Camper take lead on China leg . . . News - Injured 29er sailor showing positive signs . . . Volvo - Telefonica moves into third . . . Olympic - Team GBR stack up the points at Miami . . . Keelboat - Ovington roll out the shiney new Flying 15 . . . Volvo - Split opens as Volvo fleet repositions . . . Olympic - Fast start for Team GBR at Miami OCR . . . News - Dutch teenager Laura Dekker completes solo circumnavigation . . . Olympic - Miami World Cup underway today . . . Catamaran - Can Tornado return to Olympics? . . . Olympic - US Sailing’s Rolex Miami OCR returns . . . Olympic - The Pressure of Success . . . More Sailing News reports here . . . Skud-18, Sonar and 2.4mR final day . . . Friday will be the final day of racing for the Paralympic classes, with two races each scheduled for Skud-18, Sonar and 2.4mR classes to determine who takes home medals. This will be during Friday night here in the UK Sailing conditions may not be as favorable in comparison to what we have had in Biscayne Bay for most of the week. Moderate winds at 9 to 12 knots by mid morning and early this afternoon. Breeze is expected to lighten later this afternoon from 6 to 10 knots. Mostly sunny skies early with larger clouds rolling in this afternoon and perhaps showers in the area. There are chances of a thunderstorm onshore in the afternoon. Results and reports here first thig Saturday morning . . . See you here . . . Sanya in fight-back after shocking 24 hours . . . Telefonica and Camper continue to vie for leadership of Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race, with Puma and Groupama five miles back but still a force, and Abu Dahbi, 20 miles adrift trying to keep with the pace setters, while Sanya having been dropped by 60 miles tries desperately to get back into the race. After hitting the front yesterday, Iker Martínez’s Team Telefonica rounded Pulau We island narrowly ahead to lead the fleet into one of the world's busiest and most hazardous shipping routes. Telefónica and Camper traded tacks constantly on the 25 nautical mile section against the wind to Pulau We, all the time stalked by Puma just a few miles behind. Biggest loser has been the race’s first sole Chinese entry who fell foul of a series of squalls that left them becalmed on several occasions while their rivals continued to punch towards the Malacca Strait. Now fighting-back they are 50 miles off the leader. Sanya skipper Mike Sanderson: “We have had a shocking 24 hours from a racing standpoint,” Sanderson explained. “We got raked over by a series of black clouds; one in particular saw us lose more then 20 miles to the fleet. A cloud travelled upwind against the trades and grabbed us, parked us up for a while and then had us sailing downwind for as long as two hours while we tried to make the most of it." “When back in the breeze finally we got nailed twice by some more normal far smaller clouds, one a loss of six miles and one of five. So that’s been our day.” Despite the distance between Sanya and the frontrunners almost doubling from just over 30nm to 60nm at the 13:00 UTC position report, Sanderson said his crew could stage a comeback with clever sailing through the Malacca Strait, the narrow body of water between Malaysia and Sumatra that is notoriously difficult to navigate. GBR Olympic 470 crew pull out of Miami OCR . . . GBR Olympic 470 crew pull out of Miami OCR . . . After Thursday’s racing, Olympic 470 representatives Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell have opted to take no further part in the regatta.  Patience and Bithell, who finished second at the ISAF Worlds in December and were then immediatly selected as Team GB representertives for the 2012 Games, have been struggling to find their form (placing 12, 13, 10, [15] 8, 12, 11, 8) at the Miami world cup regatta and have now withdrawn from the series. The RYA announced that: Instead of persisting with the regatta, the pair have chosen to focus their attentions for the remainder of the week on continuing their campaign planning and preparation with the team specialists towards their medal-winning ambitions at the Games in Weymouth this summer. After Thursday's racing Patience and Bithell were 14th overall in the small 470 fleet, only making it into single figures in two of the eight races they sailed. The other GBR 470 crew at Miami, Ben Saxton and Richard Mason are in tenth overall. - GN Related Article - The Pressure of Success . . . Is the pressure beginning to take its toll? Team Macgregor battle into semi-final at Miami . . . Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor earned a hard-fought berth in the semi-finals of the Women’s Match Racing event at the Miami World Cup on Thursday.  The Skandia Team GBR trio came through their three pivotal remaining round-robin matches to earn their place in the quarter-finals of the Rolex Miami OCR, and a re-match against the American trio to whom they lost 0-4 in the Perth Worlds final last month. They then avenged their World Championship final loss to USA’s Anna Tunnicliffe in the process. The Skandia Team GBR trio came through their three pivotal remaining round-robin matches to earn their place in the quarter-finals of the Rolex Miami OCR, and a re-match against the American trio to whom they lost 0-4 in the Perth Worlds final last month. In spite of some great starts, the British 2012-bound crew found themselves trailing their perennial rivals 0-2 in the best-of-five quarter-final bout, but dug deep to win the next three matches and set up a semi-final meeting with Finland’s Silja Lehtinen on Friday. “We had a lot on today – our group were very tied in the round robin and we won all three of our matches but in fact we had to,” Lush explained. “After winning three matches that made us first overall from our group, but if we’d had lost that final match we’d have not even made it through. Lush was delighted with their impressive quarter-final comeback over the American trio, who have yet to be selected for the 2012 Games and who the Skandia Team GBR crew didn’t manage to get the better of in the knockout stages of regattas during the 2011 season. “We didn’t start out with a brilliant regatta, we haven’t been winning everything straight out and we’ve also made a lot of mistakes but it’s been good to learn from and it’s really nice to get through the quarter-finals,” the 31-year-old continued. “It is always a massive sigh of relief because it’s such a big cut and everyone racing in the quarters is good – Anna Tunnicliffe’s the World Champion and we meet her in the quarters. It’s a really tough stage and a relief to get through it. Full story at http://rmocr.ussailing.org Team GBR poised for medal finish Friday will see the final day of racing for the Paralympic classes, with Skandia Team GBR sailors poised in medal positions in all three classes heading into the final day. Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell are tied on points at the top of the SKUD leaderboard with Australia’s Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch, with John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas in second in the Sonar event. The British Sonar crew are two points off the leaders, Hessels, van de Veen and Rossen of the Netherlands but with the French and Norwegins close behind. In the 2.4mR class – the only one of the Paralympic classes where British selection for 2012 has still to be determined – Megan Pascoe is in third overall and Helena Lucas seventh. Pascoe will have to pull out all the stops to get a medal, three teams (USA, NED, CAN) are just one point behind her going into the final race. Damien Seguin of France is certain of the Gold. For the other Olympic classes at Miami racing will continue Friday with the top ten in each event racing the double-point medal races on Saturday. Nick Dempsey had something to smile about with another two race wins to add to his scorecard in the RS:X men’s windsurfing fleet. He has now got a 12 point lead over teammate and training partner Elliot Carney in second. Paul Goodison also reclaimed the top spot of the Laser leaderboard today. The Olympic Champion picked up 11,5 on the first day of gold fleet racing, to edge two points ahead of the overnight series leader, Canada’s David Wright. Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark remain in touch of the top podium spot in the 470 women’s event, in spite of some starting difficulties on Tuesday. They were disqualified for a premature start in the first race before having to re-cross the startline in the second race fearing they had jumped the gun for a second time. They pulled back to second to remain just one point adrift from the leading Dutch pair Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout, while Sophie Weguelin and Sophie Ainsworth are in sixth. Charlotte Dobson, DNC on Thursday, and Alison Young are in fifth and seventh places respectively in the Laser Radial fleet. Lijia Xu of China leads, six points ahead of Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands. Ben Saxton and Richard Mason are in 10th overall in the 470 men’s event. Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell have opted to take no further part in the regatta. In other events at Miami - no GBR competitors - Nico Delle Karth, and Nikolaus Resch of Austria lead the 49er class by three points from Erik Storck and Trevor Moore of the USA. Zach Railey of the USA has a ten point lead over Jonas Hogh Christensen of Denmark. Brazil’s Star sailor Robert Scheidt with crew Bruno Prada is tied in the lead with Sweden’s Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen on 26 points, while Norway’s Eivind Melleby/ Petter Moerland Pedersen are nipping at their heels with only 29 points. In the women's RS:X, Demita Vega De Lille has an 11 point lead ahead of Carolina Mendelblatt of Portugal. Full story at http://rmocr.ussailing.org AC45 to get 4 meter wingsail extension . . . The AC45 is about to get a 4 meter tall extension to the wingsail that will add over 8 square meters of surface area to the wing. The bigger wing will promote more exciting racing in light conditions. The wingsail extensions will be added, as directed by Regatta Director Iain Murray, for light wind venues to add more power to the boats when we're racing in lower wind ranges.  The new extensions are being produced at a nondescript warehouse on Auckland's North Shore by Glyn Davies, the build manager for ACRM, who has been in Auckland since the beginning of December, overseeing the wing extension project. "We're currently building 12 wing extensions to have ready for the teams for the first World Series event in Naples (in April). We're on a very tight schedule," he says. "We came back to Auckland from the last event in San Diego, set up the factory and started work in December. We're fortunate to have been able to hire a 'dream team' of boat builders here and have been able to get into production very quickly." The first extensions will be tested on the waters off Auckland by Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa early next month. Among the challenges has been accommodating the media transmission equipment that is located in the top of the main element of the existing wing. The on-the-water tests will be critical to ensure the media equipment still works under the extension. "The plan is to have the lion's share of the work done before we get to Naples so everyone is able to get sailing using these extensions as quickly as possible," Davies says. Any modifications that become necessary as a result of the tests will be quickly incorporated into the production. Then a small team of Davies' boatbuilders will shift to Valencia, Spain to prepare the wings that are in storage there ahead of the Naples event. "The extensions aren't fixed permanently," Murray explains. "We can put them on or take them off, so they'll be used at our discretion for light wind venues to add more power to the boats when we're racing in lower wind ranges." Murray says he expects the wing extensions could be used in up to 15 knots of wind. Manager for Olympic sailing Live Site appointed . . . Weymouth and Portland Borough Council has appointed an experienced events manager for the Live Site for the 2012 Olympic Games sailing events. Roger Woods has been appointed to run the site at Weymouth Beach during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Site will be located at the southern, Pavilion end of Weymouth Beach and will be run every day from July 27 to August 12. Viewers will be able to watch live and recorded Olympic sports, including the sailing events on two huge screens. The site will have a capacity of 15,000 people, meaning access will be closely controlled and monitored for safety reasons. Mr Woods has been involved with several events companies, has put on live music events across the world and site managed the International Festival of the Sea. He has also worked for five years as Production Manager of 'The Park' area at Glastonbury Festival. Full story at http://www.thisisdorset.co.uk/story-15040643-detail/story.html Team GBR weaknesses show at Miami . . . The Miami World Cup regatta reached its halfway stage on Wednesday and despite Team GBR sailors holding seven podium positions, old weaknesses are showing. Many top names are missing in Miami and GBR, with a strong team, could be expected to dominate, but in several events they are failing to show an improvement. The women's Laser Radial and the men's 470 sailors are struggling to make their mark. Charlotte Dobson is fifth and Alison Young seventh in the Laser Radial event, while Ben Saxton-Richard Mason are eighth and Luke Patience-Stuart Bithell 14th in the 470 men’s event. And in the 2.4mR Helena Lucas suffered a setback to her challenge for the Olympic berth with an OCS dropping her back to 11th, seven places behind Megan Pascoe.  Elsewhere things are going more to plan. Nick Dempsey won both his races in the RS:X men’s windsurfing fleet, counting all race wins so far, while Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell retain their lead heading into the final two days of racing for the SKUD Paralympic class, despite their worse result of the week. “Elliot and I had a good couple of races today – kind of like training races for the two of us in a way – and it was great to get the conditions we did today,” Dempsey explained. “It was the first time we’ve got planing since we got here, so it gave the body a bit of a rest from the pumping, and it was nice to be going well in those conditions. Rickham and Birrell, the four-time World Champions, continued their bid for a first Miami title with 2, 3 from their two races, edging them into a two point lead after their nearest rivals, Australia’s Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch, could only manage two fourth places. Elsewhere in the Paralympic classes, John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas improved one place to second overall in the Sonar class, Paul Goodison is just one point off of the lead in the Laser class following another steady day of 1,3 from his two races, while Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, in the 470 women’s event, were overtaken by the Dutch pairing of Westerhof and Berkhout on Wednesday. The Skandia Team GBR duo are in second overall, just one point from the overall lead, with development squad duo Sophie Weguelin and Sophie Ainsworth in third. The women's match racing is of high quality and Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor have three Group B matches remaining on Thursday in order to book their berth in the quarter-finals. Four quarter-finalists from Group A are known - Sally Barkow USA (11-1), Silja Lehtinen FIN (10-2), Ekaterina Skudina RUS (8-4) and Anna Tunnicliffe USA. The Group B qualifiers will be decided Thursday. “We’ve had a really good couple of weeks training here and the goal is to win a medal,” Macgregor continued. “We’re struggling a little bit at the moment with a couple of things in the boat but nothing that can’t be fixed – it’s just trying to get your head around the racing here. Hopefully we’ll have a good day tomorrow and get into the quarters and be able to start again.” The Rolex Miami OCR – 2011-12 ISAF Sailing World Cup series – runs until Saturday 28 January. Full story at http://rmocr.ussailing.org Hannah Snellgrove receives Marlow Ropes Award . . . Rising Laser Radial sailor Hannah Snellgrove has received an additional boost to her thriving campaign after she was awarded the coveted Marlow Ropes Award. The Marlow Ropes Award was introduced in 2002 with the aim of rewarding Britain’s most promising young sailors for their determination, focus and talent.  Snellgrove is a current member of Skandia Team GBR Transitional Squad giving her access to an array of world class training resources used by Britain’s Olympic gold medal winning sailors – a real stepping stone to succeeding at the highest level. The 21-year-old from Lymington, Southampton has been in fine form in recent regattas, with her career highlight coming at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships, last month, where she finished 14th. Barrie Edgington, Skandia Team GBR Development Squad Manager, commented: “I am sure that the experiences of being part of the 2012 programme will put her in a great position when she is able to commit 100% in the next Olympic cycle. A name to watch for!” Camper take lead on China leg . . . Camper skipper Chris Nicholson has taken his team to the lead of the Leg 3 Stage 2 charge to China with perfect timing to celebrate his country’s national day of pride, Australia Day. The Aussie skipper edged Puma Ocean Racing out of pole position around 21:40 UTC on Wednesday night and fought off continued attacks from the fleet to lead by more than eight nautical miles 07:00 UTC Thursday morning. The key move by Nicholson was a delayed tack north, with the red boat tending one nautical mile further east and tacking at 2140, while Pima tacked to starboard at 21:25 and lost their lead. Nicholson and his fellow Australian patriot navigator Will Oxley made a second major play at 05:40 when they were the first of the fleet to return to port tack. Puma slipped further to third position by taking a more northern course than Groupama sailing team who have advanced to second place. The pair tacked to starboard almost an hour after Camper along with sixth placed Team Sanya, while Team Telefonica in fourth place and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in fifth were continuing north at 07:00. Injured 29er sailor showing positive signs . . . Australian 29er skipper Tess Lloyd is showing more positive signs as she continues to recover from a head injury sustained during the Australian Youth Championships on Tuesday, 10 January 2012. Late last week Tess was initially brought out of the induced coma and showed good signs, since then her doctors have found that her motor skills remain strong and that she has good movement. Over the weekend it became apparent that at this stage she is not ready to breathe without assistance. Tess’ doctors decided to increase the dosage of medication to allow her lungs more time to fully repair and she is now in a semi comatose state. This move was taken to assist with her recovery. Despite this, Tess has been able to recognise key people such as her family and is able to understand commands, all of which are very positive. Tess’ condition is still stated as being as serious but stable and she remains heavily sedated in the Princess Alexandria Hospital in Brisbane. Telefonica moves into third . . . A fascinating tactical contest is being played out at the front of the fleet as they close on the north west tip of Sumatra on the fourth day of the second stage of Leg 3 to Sanya in China. At 16:00 hrs today, Telefonica moved into third place behind Puma, Camper, displacing Groupama. The four leading boats have now opened a 15 nm gap over Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Sanya, with the spread now 30 nm to to the leader. Full story at http://www.volvooceanrace.com Team GBR stack up the points at Miami . . . Tuesday's 8-11 knot breeze on Biscayne Bay allowed three of the Rolex Miami OCR’s 10 Olympic classes to catch up on the races they lost due to dying winds Monday afternoon. In another good day for Team GBR, Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, Paul Goodison, and Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell maintained the pressure to all lead their respective fleets. 470 World Championship silver medallists Mills and Clark picked up two out of three race wins to keep them in pole position. In the Laser, Olympic Champion Paul Goodison picked up the perfect score line, with two race wins in the blue fleet, while the four-time World Champions Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell hold on to the lead in the Paralympic SKUD class for the second day, with two second places in Tuesday’s races. RS:X windsurfer Nick Dempsey blotted an otherwise perfect score sheet with a premature start in his first race of the day, but bounced straight back with a race win in the second to ensure he’s the man to beat when the discard comes in after the first race Wednesday. Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor started their women’s match racing campaign on Tuesday, with four wins and two losses to start their Group B opening round-robin stage. Mandy Mulder, Annemiek Bekkering and Merel Witteveen (NED) prevailed with 6 wins and 1 loss. In Group A who also completed 11 flights, the leader was Silja Lehtinen, Siljan Kanerva and Mikaela Wulff (FIN) with 8 wins and 1 loss. The Miami OCR is a chance for Team GBR to get some relatively easy world cup points and early season competition. The event is more important for those still trying to qualify for the 2012 Games and GBR 49er, Star and Finn sailors are missing this event to concentrate on upcoming European events. Britain's choice for the men's 470 event, Luke Patience and Sturat Bithell, are struggling to find their form since getting the nod. Yet to hit single figures, they have been out shone by Ben Saxton and Richard Mason who sit in fourth overall after four races. Charlotte Dobson is making her mark in the women's Laser Radial, in second place behind Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands, and comprehensively out pacing her British rival, Alison Young, for the Olympic berth. Young had a better day with a 4, 8 to mix it with Dobson but still carries a disqualification from day 1. In the 2.4mR Megan Pascoe holds the advantage over GBR team mate, Helena Lucas, in third and sixth respectively. Damian Seguin of France is running away with this event, 16 points ahead of Canadian Paul Tingley. Leading the Finn, Zach Railey of the USA could do nothing wrong as he methodically picked off his competition, most notably Caleb Paine (USA) and Jonas Hogh Christensen (DEN), to quadruple the victories in his score line. In the 49er Erik Storck and Trevor Moore of the USA are still holding on to a solid first place ahead of the Austrian team of Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch. Full story at http://rmocr.ussailing.org/ Ovington roll out the shiney new Flying 15 . . .  After his success at the Flying 15 Worlds last summer, Chris Turner and his merry men at Ovington have been working on a new Flying 15 deck mould for 2012.Chris recently posted some images of the new plugs on their facebook page. With sail numbers approaching 4000, the Ovington Flying 15 will get a new slippery look for the new year. Word is that the new smooth deck will be an ownership option. First boat with the new deck should be at the Dinghy Show in March. Thanks for the tip from the F15 blog . . . Full story at http://www.ovingtonboats.com/page.ff Split opens as Volvo fleet repositions . . . The three leading Volvo boats, Puma, Camper and Groupama have opened an eight mile gap on the other three boats, Abu Dhabi, Sanya and Teleifonica at the 07:00 hrs reports this morning. The three leading crews are within 3 nm of each other with the spread now 17 nm to Telifonica. The fleet is sailing at between 11 and 12 knots. Camper skipper Chris Nicholson reckons his team have manoeuvred into the prime position to the north of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet after dodging a squall overnight. Nicholson said they were “probably where all of our other competitors would like to be” after splitting from the fleet and repositioning themselves around 10 miles to the north of leg leaders Puma. Nicholson said their new position could pay dividends further down the track. Team Sanya were the first of the fleet to reposition themselves, taking the hit yesterday afternoon, and Team Telefónica followed suit overnight. Groupama sailing team were this morning under three miles astern of Puma, with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing the most southerly boat in the fleet. Fast start for Team GBR at Miami OCR . . . Early results from the US Sailing’s Rolex Miami OCR, on Biscayne Bay showed wins for Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell in the Skud 18 to take an early lead. Also starting fast was Paul Goodison in the Laser flights, with a 3, 1. While in the RS:X Men’s windsurfing event, Nick Dempsey and Elliot Carney are first and second overall after two races. Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark also saw a flying start in the 470 women’s division, picking up a race win with a four minute lead over the second-placed Dutch duo in their only race of the day due to the dying breeze. Rickham and Birrell, who last week claimed their fourth consecutive Skud 18 World Championship title in Port Charlotte, Florida, continued their form into this World Cup series regatta with a 1,2 for their opening day’s efforts. Elsewhere in the Paralympic classes, Helena Lucas and Megan Pascoe – both still vying for selection to the Games – are poised on equal points in second and third places respectively after their first day in the one-person 2.4mR class, In the Sonar keelboat, John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas are in second after day 1 with a 4, 2. Charlotte Dobson is in third overall in the Laser Radial event, thanks to a third and an eighth from her two races Monday, Ben Saxton and Richard Mason are fourth in the 470 men’s event, with Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell seeing a tentative start in 11th from their only race. Dutch teenager Laura Dekker completes solo circumnavigation . . . Dutch teenager Laura Dekker has sailed into harbour on the Caribbean island of St Maarten - becoming the youngest sailor to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world. Following a court battle for the right to embark on the challenge, sixteen-year-old Laura Dekker sailed into harbour at Sint Maarten in the Caribbean on Saturday afternoon to complete her round-the-world voyage. She arrived a year and two days after setting out. Dekker has originally planned to set out a year earlier, at the age of 14, but the court ordered her placed in the care of welfare officers on the grounds that she was too young to guarantee her safety at sea. Miami World Cup underway today . . . US Sailing’s Rolex Miami OCR, the six-day annual regatta, which will be sailed on Biscayne Bay for its 23rd time, is the second of seven 2011-2012 ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas and, as such, plays host to elite sailors from around the globe, with an emphasis on those preparing for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. First to start Monday will be the women's Match racing at 14:00 GMT, then the Paralympic Sonar event and the first Laser flights at 15:30 GMT. All classes will race each day. For fleet racing in the Olympic classes, the Rolex Miami OCR will consist of a five-day opening series (Monday – Friday) and a double-point medal race (Saturday). The top 10 finishers in the opening series of each class will advance to the medal race. For match racing (Elliott 6m), which makes its debut in the 2012 Olympic Games, the regatta will consist of an opening series, a knockout series, and a sail-off for boats not advancing to the knockout series. Competitors in the Paralympic classes will have five days of fleet racing (Monday-Friday) and no medal race. Nine of Britain’s London-bound sailors are set to compete in their first regatta of this Olympic year. GBR Star, 49er and Finn sailors not competing at Miami. Skandia Team GBR line-up for Rolex Miami OCR: Laser - *Paul Goodison Laser Radial - Charlotte Dobson, Alison Young and Chloe Martin RS:X Men - *Nick Dempsey and Elliot Carney 470 Men - *Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell, Ben Saxton and Richard Mason 470 Women - *Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, Sophie Weguelin and Sophie Ainsworth Women’s Match Racing - *Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor 2.4mR - Helena Lucas and Megan Pascoe Sonar - *John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas SKUD 18 - *Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell * Olympic/Paralympic representative. Full story at http://rmocr.ussailing.org Can Tornado return to Olympics? . . . Can the Tornado return to the Olmpics? The one-man tornado known as Roland Gaebler continues to push the multihull Olympic cause. With his Tornado hat on Roland has campaigned tirelessly for the class to return to the Olympic fold, and with the mixed-crew multihull now on the agenda for Rio in 2016, is happy to talk-up the Tornado as the new female-friendly class.  The ISAF Evaluation Trials in Santander 17 to 25 March for the Olympic Mixed Multihull are the next step and Gaebler is happy to welcome one and all to the event. Esecially those poor Star and Matchrace sailors about to suffer withdrawel symptoms from Olympic campaigning - although their bank managers might welcome their return to a more lucrative form of employment. The Tornado is now a transformed class, not only has it rediscovered the one design concept, but has apparently been an unheralded bastion of women's sailing, harking back to Denmark's Paul and Trine Elvstrom who finished 4th at the 1984 Olympic Games. Which does rather emphasise the point that it has always been possible for women to sail the Olympic multihull, just not many have wanted to. Under the guidence of Gaebler the class is also keen to experiment with new courses and has run various short course and speed events in confined space to improve the media opportunities, but as the AC 45 and Extreme 40 classes have demonstrated, spectacular capsizes are the way to YouTube media stardom. But, lets not complain, the multihull is back in the Games. The Tornado might be a bit long in the tooth and despite its classic good looks, considered a bit un-cool in the ISAF drive to shake off its old boy network image. So let's hope that the trials in Santander throw up a real ground breaker, not that previous trials - 49er excepted - raise our expectations. - GN Editor Note: Trine and Paul Elvstrom were European champions in the Tornado class in 1983-84. Paul Elvstrom also won 13 World Championships in seven different monotype sailing classes. Elvstrom is one of only four Olympic athletes to have competed over a 40-year span. Elvstrom won four consecutive individual sailing gold medals in the Finn class event and he competed in the Tornado in the '84 and '88 Games with his daughter Trine. US Sailing’s Rolex Miami OCR returns . . . US Sailing’s Rolex Miami OCR returns to Coconut Grove, Florida this weekend for its 23rd annual edition, top athletes from around the world will be using it as an opportunity to jump-start ambitious sailing goals for 2012, not the least of which, for some, is participation in this summer’s London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. With racing scheduled from Monday, January 23 through Saturday, January 28, the six-day Rolex Miami OCR is the second of seven 2011-2012 ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas and features elite-level competition in the classes selected for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. At the close of registration on Sunday, 532 sailors representing 44 countries had registered.  With 82 boats registered, the Laser class promises not to disappoint as the typically largest fleet at the Rolex Miami OCR. With multiple potential winners embedded in the entry roster, with well-known names from around the globe such as Alsogaray (ARG), Paul Goodison (GBR) and Bruno Fontes (BRA), as well as up-and-comers such as Charlie Buckingham (USA). Traveling more than halfway around the globe are 2011 World Champions and Australia’s representatives for the Olympic Games in the 470 Men’s class Mathew Belcher and Malcom Page. “After spending the better part of the decade trying to gain Olympic selection, London will be my first (Games),” said Belcher, adding that his teammate Malcolm Page crewed (for skipper Nathan Wilmot) to win an Olympic Gold medal in Beijing (2008). Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) in the 470 Women’s class, are always a good run for the money, and after a podium finish in Perth they will no doubt share in some epic battles against World Champions Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout (NED). The USA’s team of Amanda Clark(USA) and Sarah Lihan (USA) edged out USA’s Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar during a tie-breaker in Perth, which earned them their berth at the Olympic Games. As always, the Star class is shining with world-renowned champions, and perhaps the best-known names attending are two-time Olympic gold medalists Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA), who just wrapped up 2011 with their second straight title at the Star World Championships (as part of the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Perth). Though Scheidt and Prada are used to fleet-topping performances, they also know not to discount the tough competition that consistently rotates into the top ten at this event, including Xavier Rohart with crew Pierre Alexis Ponsot (FRA) and Hamish Pepper with Maz Salminen (SWE).  Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT) are top players in the 49er fleet, and in Perth, Denmark had a handful of teams in the medal race, so it doesn’t go unnoticed that Allan Norregaard and crew Peter Land have thrown their hat into the Rolex Miami OCR ring along with Jonas Warrer (Denmark’s gold medalist in Beijing) and Seren Hansen. Erik Storck (USA) and Trevor Moore (USA) who were inches away from bronze in Perth, are on an upward spiral and expecting to accomplish big things at the Rolex Miami OCR. In Finn class, the USA’s 2012 Olympic team member Zach Railey (USA) is the front runner and expected to bring back the gold, but he will have some tough competition from Brendan Casey (AUS) and fellow US Sailing AlphaGraphics teammate Caleb Paine (USA), who has been posting consistent top-20 finishes as of late. In the Men’s and Women’s RS:X classes, the fleets are relatively small compared to past years, since many of the world’s top windsurfers chose to bypass the long trip to Miami from the ISAF Worlds in Perth and go straight to the 2012 RS:X European Windsurfing Championships, scheduled for February in Portugal, and on to the RS:X World Windsurfing Championships, scheduled for March in Spain. Last year’s World Cup series winner Nick Dempsey (GBR) could be all but guaranteed the gold in Men’s, still, Dempsey will have to contest the likes of Ahmed Habash (EGY), who is a four-time National Mistral Champion. The newest Olympic class in the Games is Women’s Match Racing, and at the Rolex Miami OCR the country to beat is most definitely the USA. In fact, during this quadrennium, there has not been a single World Cup event where the U.S. has not been on the podium. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) /Molly Vandemoer (USA) /Debbie Capozzi (USA) set the bar high in Perth by taking the gold. France’s Claire Leroy/Elodie Bertrand/Marie Riou and Great Britain’s Lucy Macgregor/Annie Lush/Kate Macgregor are other safe bets for finishing in the top five. Full story at http://rmocr.ussailing.org The Pressure of Success . . . Great things are expected of Team GB at the London Olympic Games. With home ground advantage the British public is looking for a shed full of medals, the more golden the better. And for the British sailing team that expectation is doubled. The British 2008 Olympic sailing team was our most successful ever and the 2012 team is tipped for even greater success on home waters.  Manager Stephen Park has set a goal of four medals this summer, but no one is taking that seriously, with six at the last games we have to be looking at eight this time around with the London factor. Sport England's programme to deliver a London 2012 legacy of increased mass participation in sport has been backed by over £260,000,000 in hand outs to the Olympic sports, and sailing has benefitted to the tune of £23 million to make sure that they continue their winning ways this summer. But is the pressure beginning to take its toll? At the world championships in Perth last December the good ship Team GB sprung a few leaks. In the 49er, an event conspicuous for our not actually managing to win a major title for years, our top crew were forced to withdraw following an injury to crewman Ben Rhodes during the first of their opening day races. And with no outstanding performance so far, selection will most likely be delayed to after the worlds in Croatia this May. In the Star class our reigning Olympic and world champions were also out, with a back injury to helmsmen Iain Percy. And then the 'cause celebre', - the disqualification of three time gold medallist, Ben Ainslie after he blew his top at a marauding media boat and who now faces a possible ban from the 2012 Games. Other Team GB selections are struggling to raise their game. RS:X bronze medallist Nick Dempsey was upstaged by young team-mate Elliott Carney at the Perth worlds, finishing 13th. Paul Goodison, Olympic gold medal winner in the Laser was also beaten by his team-mate. Nick Thompson took silver with Goodison finishing fifth . . . Bryony Shaw finished seventh in the women's RS:X after a disjointed series and will hope to get back at the RS:X world champs in Cadiz in March, targeted as a 'peak' regatta for her.  The ISAF world cup series kicks off in Miami on the 23 January and Park must be hoping that the recent team ski camp has refreshed some jaded bodies and minds. Team GB 49er and Star crews will not compete at Miami but all other team members will be there. Following Miami the first European event is in Palma Mallorca, then Hyeres, France, Medemblik in the Netherlands, the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta at the Olympic venue in Weymouth and Kieler Woche, Germany in late June. Plus there are a number of European and World championship events before the Games in July/August The problem for Park and the specialist coaches is making sure that the team, who have been on a continuous circuit of events to get selection, do not peak too early and burn-out, but maintain a competitive edge and high fitness level. And that injured team members return to fitness in time to get in sufficiant competitive sailing. 470 helm Heather Mills has commented in her blog about getting the right balance in peaking for only a couple of events. Returning to the UK at the end of December after Perth exhausted (despite a break in Bali) and taking part in a team cross country ski camp in St Moritz, Mills and crew Saskie Clark flew straight out to Miami for the world cup event . . . And the pressure to win was back. - GN Team GB for 2012 Olympic Games : Finn: Ben Ainslie Star: Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson Laser: Paul Goodison Women's 470: Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark Men's 470: Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell Women's Match Racing, Elliott 6m: Lucy Macgregor, Kate Macgregor and Annie Lush Women's RS X : Bryony Shaw Men's RS X : Nick Dempsey 49er: To be decided Laser Radial: To be decided |
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